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Get in the Game with Funware
No one ever said that marketing is all fun and games. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use fun, and games, as an effective, highly measurable marketing tactic.
A New Era
We are entering an era where an entire generation grew up on PlayStation and other video games. I didn’t get to play pinball or even Pong until I was old enough to get in to bars. Today, online games and contests are helping to make some of the most mundane products, or even reading an instruction manual, actually fun. Hence the new marketing term Funware.
Users Spend 3-5 Minutes Playing a Game
Marketers who have joined the fun are finding that they can create loyal followers. Com.Score claims that users will spend an average of 3 to 5 minutes playing a game – certainly more time than you get with a Tweet.
And potentially even more valuable is the measurability. In addition to knowing who is playing, you can create increased interaction with leader boards, levels of difficulty and high score awards. You certainly have more engagement than with a static ad. And you can draw a clear line to an actual sale or user adoption.
DCX Man
A good BtoB example that incorporates a game is Brocade’s DCX Man campaign. The campaign was created to target people who are managing data centers and integrating data, applications and storage.
On the micro site, users can read the story of DCX Man, whose father was a Russian data center manager and whose mother was the data center cleaning woman. DCX Man was born in the center and never left. Also on the site, users can read the complete comic book “The Adventures of DCX Man” and send in suggestions about what superpowers DCX man should develop. Players can watch a video about data center fabric architecture…and stay engaged while playing a video game.
15,000 Visitors in Four Days
The online campaign proved so successful, with more than 15,000 visitors during the first four days after launch, that Brocade expanded it to events, collateral and merchandise.
You might consider on online game as part of your marketing mix. It’s for the kid in all of us.
